Warning: This is a shameless promotional piece I am writing on behalf of my brother, Jim. Why am I doing it? Because I owe him. Big. You see, of the three kids in my family he was not only the youngest growing up but also the only boy. That meant he was subjected to -- how can I say this politely? -- undue torture, girl style. Case in point: my sister and I used to love treating him to full facials, make up and all, while he playfully remained a good sport. One day he finally said enough. (I can’t remember how old he was at the time… 19? 20?) Still, he continued to indulge in our silliness in other ways and ended up becoming one of the most incredibly hilarious people I know. But there was something about Jim that disturbed me greatly, something I need to explain right now.Jim was one of those kids who was unbelievably talented, unbelievably creative, as well as unbelievably UNDER achieving. Don't get me wrong, he was a good student but he clearly didn't have his heart in it. I shook my head at him all the time. It killed me to think of all the great things he could achieve it he’d only put his mind to it. But no. Instead of concentrating all his energy on school, he followed his heart and dove into a silly hobby. It revolved around this weird thing Mom and Dad had just bought. What was it called, again? Oh, yeah.A PERSONAL COMPUTER.

Me, my sis, Heather and Jim ...with a frisbee on his head.

My folks brought it home in 1981. I admit it was kind of neat. But all that Franklin Ace 1000 could really do was word-processing plus some basic spreadsheets. Well, Jim thought that maybe the machine could do more. Ridiculous, I know. He spent hours on it, learning code on his own through trial and error. Well, guess what? Much to my surprise it turned he COULD teach the computer to do different things. Cool things. Creative things.As you may have guessed, Jim ended up doing all right in life. Did I tell you he works at Microsoft as an inventor? Not a bad gig for a guy who chose to follow his heart instead of the pre-programmed path for achievement. There might be a lesson in there somewhere. And now he’s gone and done something cool again. That Mr. Smarty Pants! Or should I say Mr. AND MRS. Smarty Pants…. A while back his wife, Lori, quite the creative genius, herself, thought it would be fun if they did a project together. And though I’m sure the urge to tackle a 1000 piece Hello Kitty Dance Party jigsaw puzzle was strong, they decided to create a cool game. And instead of just thinking about it, they actually did it. And you know what? The game is AWESOME.

Jim and Lori today. A total love match. They BOTH love to wear silly things on their heads.

(ALERT - promotional part of this post begins now!)

Ooh! So cool. Me want to buy!

Produced by Calliope games, it's called Ugh!, a push your luck card game set playfully in the caveman days. The goal is to try and lock in as many sets of cards as you can before a natural disaster strikes. It’s fun, addictive, and oh so perfect for the entire family. 2-6 people can play, ages 8 and up. I will personally attest to the fact that everyone in my household loves it. Finally, a game my kids will play with me! Hooray! Plus the graphics were designed by John Kovalic, the famous cartoon and illustrator. Cool.So buy it. You’ll love it. You can buy it for $10 online and it’s available in cool shops across the US, too. Just click here for more info on the game as well as how to get it.

And before I go, a final word to Jim: I proud of you, bro. I’m proud of Lori, too. It looks like the two of you ended up doing all right. And you did it your way, too. :)

Weird Author

My name's Murphy, Janene Murphy, and I'm a weird mom.

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